Today, many persons find it desirable to own and wear a hat which is capable of being readily changed in appearance, color, texture, or design by the wearer. Such a hat is advantageous because it can eliminate the need to purchase two or more of such hats; for example, when the wearer wishes to have the same style hat in two different colors or to display different logos or indicia of sports teams or the like. Accordingly, a variety of "reversible hats" have been designed for specific functions as well as for providing changeable fashions.
An example of such a "functional" hat includes U.S. Pat. No. 1,816,346 to Silverstein which discloses a reversible peaked hunter's cap having an inner and outer fabric, one of which is bright red to provide visual indication for use in hunting when the same is worn on the outside. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 1,050,310 to Steinberg, et al. also discloses a "functional" reversible cap which is reversed to expose a waterproof liner as well as a depending neck protector. U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,599 to Bell discloses a reversible cap to be used as a navigational aid. In particular, when traveling downstream in a boat, the cap, in one position, displays a red side on its left and a black side on its right. Similarly, when traveling upstream, the cap is reversed or inverted to display the opposite color pattern with the red side on the right and the black side on the left. This color scheme thereby provides the helmsman of the boat quick indication of which side of the boat will pass a red or black buoy.
Fashionable type reversible hats include U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,569,942 to Barnhill and Reissue 16,972 to Epstein which both disclose reversible hats that may be reversed and slightly adjusted or re-formed by the wearer.
Recently in the hat industry, baseball-type hats or caps have seen a dramatic increase in popularity. Such baseball-type caps usually include a crown portion, a visor, and an adjustable strap in the back of the cap to enable adjustment to a range of various head sizes. Even more recently, significant attention has been paid to providing a baseball-type cap having a front crown region which is stiffened and generally flat to provide a planar surface for prominent display of logos, indicia or the like. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,034 to Pass discloses such a cap having a separate stiffening member disposed in the interior of the crown to prevent collapse thereof and to provide a neat appearance, especially for displaying logos, emblems, etc.
Furthermore, a need to provide baseball caps whose appearance may readily be altered or modified has also been recognized. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,873,726 to Tapia and 4,776,043 to Coleman both disclose baseball-type caps having various removable and interchangeable logos or indicia to be selectively arranged and modified thereon; for example, to identify with two different athletic teams. Although these cap assemblies enable the wearer to somewhat alter the appearance of the cap, these assemblies are not without their disadvantages. In particular, the wearer must carry with him or her the additional patches or logos at all times if alteration at any moment is desired. In addition, such assemblies can only change logos or indicia provided on the crown and not the overall color, texture, or appearance of the cap.
Other hats which attempt to provide changeable crowns also suffer similar shortcomings as discussed above. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,105,400 to Burke and 1,504,350 to Hughes, for example, both provide a way to change the appearance of the entire crown of a cap. This change is accomplished by employing a reversible and separate crown covering which must be detached, reversed, and then reattached to the crown of the cap. If such a cover is removed, however, the wearer must be burdened with holding onto the cover until he or she is ready to reapply the same.
All of the aforementioned hats and hat assemblies, in one way or the other, have failed to provide a simply-constructed, readily-reversible, form-retaining hat or cap. This is especially true of baseball-type caps which are extremely popular because of their inexpensive fabrication, adjustability and superior sunblock protection from its relatively simple visor-type brim. There is therefore a long-felt need for such a reversible cap that is not only readily invertible or reversible, but will further maintain an external baseball cap shape with a flat and stiffened front portion of the crown while still conforming to the head of the wearer. Such a cap should be capable of being worn in one position of reversal to display one color, team logo, indicia, etc. and instantly reversible to display a different or modified color, logo, etc. in the other position of reversal.